Tally = 130 arrested and 38 who appeared
in Court and are out on bail. 92still technically under arrest and due to
appear in Court.

Late News just in from Chinhoyi: Four farmers were
putting out a bush firelate afternoon when a group of Police and land
committee officials arrivedand decided to arrest them. We wait to hear what
this charge will be butthey remain in custody tonight!!!

News from
Nyabira: Tony Smit - news from Nyabira is that he is still indetention
although he has been permitted medical attention. Police indicatethat they
await the Ministry of Lands and Agriculture to confirm that thefarm has been
delisted.

The bail conditions vary from province to province. Chegutu
/Selous Bail Zd$5000 and those farmers have been given 24 hours to vacate
the farms untilthey appear in court. In Mashonaland Central, the same
conditions but bailat Z$ 10 000.

In Bindura a court was set up with
an enforced representation by one lawyerwho was on hand. These farmers had
the option to allow this lawyer torepresent them or they could go back to
jail until a weekday.

In the absence of farmers Police are finding it
hard to arrest furniture!!!

Farmers issued with summons on Thursday 15
August 2002 appeared in court,they were remanded out of custody with no
conditions except Zim $ 5000 bail.

MASHONALAND EAST Wedza (All farmers went to court today and
released on $ 5000 bail)48. Tony Olivie (Arrested 16 Aug)49. John Bibby
(farm invaded post Abuja) (Arrested 16 Aug)50. Peter Bibby (Son the John)
(Arrested 16 Aug)51. Hank Viljoen (being held out of custody due to ill
health)(Arrested 16 Aug)52. Flo McKay (Mrs) (70) - arrested (17 Aug) in
place of her sonScott von Memerty who is in Mozambique. She was later
released but told toreport on a daily basis until her son can be arrested.
53. Giles Dorward (Arrested 16 Aug) Out on Bail to month end.54. Sarel
Meyer (Arrested 16 Aug) Out on Bail to month end.55. Boet Smith - went
instead of his father (Arrested 16 Aug)

Conscession102. Paul Wood (Arrested 17 Aug)103.
Archie Wood (Arrested 17 Aug)They have made a statement (the police insisted
on writing the first part ofthe statement) and now await arrival of someone
of authority to see whetherthey can be released. Now confirmed to stay in to
Monday.

Report
from Ben Freeth 16th August 2002.Impalavale Farm in the district of Kadoma.
We have got policeofficer-in-charge Battlefields, C.I.O, Support Unit, Army
and members of theLands Committee, who are the prospective settlers,
currently evicting theowner. He is having to load lorries with all his
furniture and equipmentwhile these individuals look on. Mervyn Jelliman has
currently got 300hectares of Winter Cereals all under irrigation in the
lands, and he willhave to abandon these too. He grew this on the strength
of a meeting withGovernor Chanetsa in Chinhoyi on the 20th May 2002. The
Governor in themeeting said "if you have Section 8's you will be allowed to
plant", whenasked whether the farmers would be able to reap their crops he
said "we area Government, not street kids". The PROPOL said in this same
meeting thatany settlers that moved on after the 31st March 2001 were there
illegally.Mr Jelliman has only had settlers since he planted his crop.
Police saythat a signal has come from the Deputy Commissioner - Operations,
saying nofarmers with Section 8's should be allowed to remain on their
property andmust be evicted. If they do not leave their property they are
to bearrested. Mervyn Jelliman has decided that he must leave rather than
faceimprisonment for living in his home. He has no other home, no other
farmand his father and brother carved Impalavale out of virgin bush over
thelast 50 years. It is a mystery as to why he is the one being targeted
inthis area. Possibly it is due to his highly developed infrastructure
andthe fact that he has got 300 hectares of crops under irrigation in
theground. As such he is the biggest operator still allowed to operate in
thewhole Kadoma district, where of nearly 100 title deeds only four have
beenallowed to operate recently. There are now only three. Mervyns's
fathermoved out of his house to a house in town two weeks ago after having
put hiswhole life into the farm. Mervyn twin brother Wally is currently on
a planeto Australia, having had to abandon his house.

CFU Report 17
August 2002 - More than $3.72 billion dollars worth ofongoing crop and
livestock production is at risk, ranging from a potentialloss of 25% of the
coffee crop in the Chipinge district, to large areas ofwheat and barley,
particularly in Mashonaland West Province, while somedairy operations are at
risk in the Midlands. In Matabeleland Provincecattle operations are
severely disrupted, while wildlife and ostrichproperties go untended due to
the detention of their owners. In theHighveld provinces of Mashonaland
tobacco grading will be disrupted,resulting in a short supply of Virginia
tobacco to the auction floors, whiletobacco seedbeds may be lost. . It
has been calculated that $5.6 billion dollars worth of farm assets are
atrisk on these untended properties. On 10 farms alone in the Chegutu
area$570 million worth of movable assets are at risk.In Manicaland two
farmers were remanded in custody until 21st August, one ofwhom is 67 years
old and on medication, despite vigorous protestations bytheir legal
counsel. In Matabeleland, which has had twice as many farmersdetained as
any other province, 25 farmers remain in custody, including 1farmer who was
granted bail in Gwanda yesterday, who was re-arrested today,despite being
given a date to appear in Court.

In Midlands Province there were no
arrests or detentions until thisafternoon, when 5 farmers had been called to
Gweru Central for questioning.

17 August 2002 Report from Beit
Bridge - Just a note from me to tell youwhat occurred on our farm last
night. We have a cattle farm, namely MavimbaRanch, in the Beitbridge
district. It has a section 8 but the banks havenot, as far as we know been
advised of Governments intention to acquire thisfarm. The ranch is run as a
cattle ranch and we normally have hunts on it.This year however we have had
to cancel all hunts due to the war vets insitue. The farm is owned by a
company, B K Cawood Pvt. Ltd. but is leasedby Anzac Ranching, and run by
Mike Rauch.

At about 11:00pm last night two vehicles, one white land
rover withplainclothes men and one green land rover with members of the ZRP,
mostlyarmed, and arrived at the farm village. These men were apparently all
drunkaccording to the other workers! They were looking for Mike.
Fortunately, hewas not there, being away in South Africa at the time. They
then called forthe foreman, Raphael Moyo, and took him into custody. He is
being detainedfor the weekend and is to appear in court on Monday. Attempts
to take foodto Raphael have been blocked by the police in
Beitbridge.Ends

Surrounded by chaos on the farms, rapid economic
decline and famine conditions, I thought today to ask myself "does Africa have
the right to make mistakes and to fail" and if so how does it do that with
dignity?

Europe made mistakes - the Irish famine, two world wars in the
20th Century, the horrors of Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco. America
made mistakes - the civil war - highest casualties of any civil war in history,
the slave trade, Vietnam. China made mistakes and it cost them tens of millions
of lives lost and untold suffering. Cambodia had Pol Pot and so it goes. Is it
Africa's turn? Is this a passing phase?

The global context is different
of course - we live in a world of instant communication, travel is fast and
easy, markets stretch across national borders and oceans, money moves and
changes with a liberty that is all its own. Africa makes mistakes and Africans
flee the continent for safer havens and places that offer work, money and food.
Probably more than a quarter of the total population of Africa today, lives
abroad. Foreign remittances are one of the largest and fastest growing sources
of foreign exchange and wealth in Africa. Informal markets under value local
currencies to such an extent that foreigners and Africans living abroad can buy
assets in Africa at a tiny fraction of their real value.

Ours is a
violent and corrupt continent, human rights are given scant regard in the
struggle for power and influence, democracy is used and abused to an extent that
would astonish even the most cynical. Legal rights and constitutions take a
back seat when in conflict with greed and political power. There is money to be
made in Africa, but it's the money of a politically driven Mafia that is every
bit as shrewd and ruthless as their European and American counterparts. But are
they any different from a Joe Kennedy who made his money in illegal liquor
during prohibition. Does his relationship to Jack and Bob Kennedy "clean up the
record" so that his past can be viewed in a different light?

No I do not
think the West, or the East for that matter, has any right to point a finger at
Africa and to self-righteously damn the continent and its leaders for the way
they are behaving. Perhaps it's just a phase through which we have to go to get
where others have now landed. We have a right to make mistakes and to fail as a
people and as countries, even a continent, with a dignity that comes out of how
we deal with these growing pains.

Right now we are making an awful mess
of Zimbabwe. We are violating the very principles for which the nationalist
leaders fought with great courage and determination for nearly 70 years. We are
impoverishing our people and many will die this year while our leaders enjoy
champagne breakfasts and luxury that would be the envy of a film star in
Hollywood at the height of their careers. We are destroying our productive
industries and driving away the better representatives of capitalism in favour
of a whole bevy of crooks and thieves who think that Africa is a great place to
do business.

Of course we (Africans) are the ones who suffer most as a
result. We are becoming ever poorer, we live under terrible conditions (thank
God for decent weather) and we are forced to watch helplessly as our children
and friends die or leave the country for greener pastures. To make a living we
have to use our innate energy and ingenuity, often operating on the edge of
legality. Above all we have to learn to keep our heads down and to watch our
backs so that when all others have fallen, we at least can still
stand.

Do we deserve this? No, obviously, but then neither did the
Germans deserve Hitler or the Russians, Stalin, or the Cambodians, Pol
Pot.

What we have to do when passing through this phase, above all, is
not quit.We have to have faith and vision and we have to ensure that we, at
least, are doing what is right and are helping the delinquent, whoever he is, to
grow up and reform. Mugabe has the right to make mistakes and to fail as a
result. The people of this country gave him a mandate and he has abused that
mandate. He is already paying dearly for his mistakes and his failure. He will
continue to pay for them for a long time, perhaps eternity. God in His wisdom
has granted us the liberty to make mistakes and to fail and He does not always
intervene to either prevent the consequences or even to ameliorate them. We
need sometimes to recognise that and the thank him for giving us the dignity of
being our own person, even if it means we fall on our faces once in a while or
all the time.

However, in the middle of all of these tragic periods in
history, when human suffering has often been on a scale that leaves the mind
numb with shock.Humanity rises up with men and women of courage, principle
and faith who eventually win the battle against the evil forces that lead to
serious error and failure. So it was the early Methodists who stopped slavery,
it was Marshal who put Europe back together after Hitler. It was an American
General who rewired Japan and helped the Japanese sing again. It was Martin
Luther King who said, "we will overcome someday" and died for his
cause.South Africa produced Mandela - crafted in an apartheid
jail.

Here in Zimbabwe the terrible tragedy that is Zimbabwe, is
producing new heroes of the fight for liberty and justice. They are not well
educated in most cases, they are not wealthy or powerful, but they have a dream
of a better Zimbabwe. A vision of a country where race and creed and ethnic
background do not matter, where women can find new dignity and power and
influence in their society. Where law does matter and the rule of law will be
accepted by all, from the poorest peasant to the president as being supreme.
Where the constitution is not just a collection of "western inspired" words
meant to deprive newly elected leaders of their freedom to do what they want,
but the pinnacle of the legal system. A document that every citizen will hold
dear as the final protector of the values and principles on which a better life
for all Zimbabweans is founded.

They chose to fight for these principles,
not with guns or with violence, but through the ballot box and dialogue. They
have been beaten back twice by a ruthless and shameless regime that has used
every trick in the book to deny the people of this country the right to choose
their leaders, but they can never be beaten in the long term. Every person, who
has climbed on board the ZANU PF train so as to enjoy the rewards that come from
life in thast privileged circle, must know that eventually justice will be
done. They cannot avoid that eventuality. Every person, who tries to become
rich by stealing the property of others, will learn that there is no security
over stolen goods. Every person who denies our people their rights and
freedoms, will discover that eventually it is they themselves who suffer the
loss of those very things whilst those they sought to suppress, find real
freedom.

This report
does not purport to cover all the incidents that are taking place in the
commercial farming areas. Communication problems and the fear of reprisals
prevent farmers from reporting all that happens. Farmers names, and in some
cases farm names, are omitted to minimise the risk of reprisals.

107 farmers were taken from
farms to police stations around the country today for continuing farming
operations.The police have been laying
charges for being in contravention of Section 9 of the Land Acquisition
Act.In all cases farmers have been
informed that they are to remove all personal property from their farms – while
some have been given time to do so no ongoing attention to crops and livestock
is to be permitted.

More than $3.72billion
dollars worth of ongoing crop and livestock production is at risk, ranging from
a potential loss of 25% of the coffee crop in the Chipinge district, to large
areas of wheat and barley, particularly in Mashonaland West Province, while some
dairy operations are at risk in the Midlands.In Matabeleland Province cattle operations are severely disrupted, while
wildlife and ostrich properties go untended due to the detention of their
owners.In the Highveld provinces of
Mashonaland tobacco grading will be disrupted, resulting in a short supply of
Virginia tobacco to the auction floors, while tobacco seed beds may be lost. .

It
has been calculated that $5.6 billion dollars worth of farm assets are at risk
on these untended properties.On 10
farms alone in the Chegutu area $570 million worth of movable assets are at
risk.

These developments follow the
Court hearings in Matabeland South yesterday, where farmers with Section 8
Orders were remanded out of custody on $5 000 bail until 6th
September, 2002.Today there has been a
countrywide round up by the police, of farmers in occupation of their
properties.The modus operandi employed
by the police has varied on a province-by-province basis.

In most instances farmers
were taken to rural police stations and bail hearings were conducted where
magistrates were available.Generally
speaking farmers have been released on $5 000 bail and a Court date set within
the next two weeks.

In Manicaland two farmers
were remanded in custody until 21st August, one of whom is 67 years
old and on medication, despite vigorous protestations by their legal
counsel.In Matabeleland, which has had
twice as many farmers detained as any other province, 25 farmers remain in
custody, including 1 farmer who was granted bail in Gwanda yesterday, who was
re-arrested today, despite being given a date to appear in Court.In Midlands Province there were no arrests
or detentions until this afternoon, when 5 farmers had been called to Gweru
Central for questioning.In Masvingo
Province in the sugar producing areas farmers were given warned and cautioned
statements and asked to return on Monday, while in Masvingo town lawyers were
able to negotiate the release ofelderly
farmers from Masvingo East.

DisclaimerUnless specifically stated that this message is
a Commercial Farmers' Union communiqué, or that it is being issued or forwarded
to you by the sender in an official CFU capacity, the opinions contained therein
are private. Private messages also include those sent on behalf of any
organisation not directly affiliated to the Union. The CFU does not accept any
legal responsibility for private messages and opinions held by the sender and
transmitted over its local area network to other CFU network users and/or to
external addressees.

Eleven Pacific Commonwealth nations called for tougher action onSaturday
against the government of President Robert Mugabe following anapparent
crackdown on white farmers.

The leaders of the former British
colonies said they regretted thatMugabe had failed to respond to
international calls to restore democracy inthe African nation.

"They recommended further action by the Commonwealth should there beno rapid
change of approach by the Zimbabwe government," said a statementissued at
the close of the 33rd annual Pacific Islands Forum in Fiji.

Mugabe's government is trying to seize white-owned farms and give themto
blacks, saying the land confiscations are needed to correct
colonial-eraimbalances in land ownership.

The farm disruptions
come as half of Zimbabwe's population is facing ahunger crisis, according to
the U.N. World Food Program. The leaders of thePacific Commonwealth - which
represent 20 percent of the Commonwealth's 54member nations - acknowledged
the need for land reform in Zimbabwe.

But they called for an end to
the forced eviction of white farmers,and urged a resumption of dialogue
between the political parties "with aview to promote national
reconciliation." Australian Prime Minister JohnHoward, who chairs the
Commonwealth committee on Zimbabwe, said the crisiscannot be left to drift
on indefinitely, although there are limits to whatthe Commonwealth can
do.

"The internal situation is Zimbabwe is deteriorating by the day
andPresident Mugabe has been utterly unresponsive to the approaches by
theSecretary General of the Commonwealth and quite indifferent to
worldopinion," Howard said.

Howard would not comment on whether
Zimbabwe would be expelled fromthe Commonwealth of Britain and its former
colonies. But he and Fiji PrimeMinister Laisenia Qarase said Saturday that
Zimbabwe should be treated asFiji was after a military coup in 2000, when
the Commonwealth slapped itwith trade and other sanctions.

New
Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark described the situation as"intolerable,"
and said she personally felt that it was time for a harderline against
Zimbabwe.

AUSTRALIA wants to "throw the book" at Zimbabwe and kick
it out of theCommonwealth.

Prime Minister John Howard said
yesterday that time had run out for theregime of Robert Mugabe.He
believes the Commonwealth owes it to the hungry and poor and whiteZimbabwean
farmers to act.

"When you remember how the book was thrown at Fiji . . .
you have to keepthat sort of thing in mind when looking at Zimbabwe," he
said.

Fiji was suspended from the Commonwealth after coups in 1987 and
2000.

Zimbabwe has escaped suspension or expulsion despite an observer
groupfinding that the March elections were rigged.

Since then,
President Mugabe has moved to kick white farmers off their landand food
shortages have worsened.

"I am giving some thought to some further action
in relation to Zimbabwe,"Mr Howard said. "We have been very
patient."

His tough language and his status on the three-man Commonwealth
panel todeal with Zimbabwe signals time is running out for the
nation.

But Mr Howard must convince his colleagues -- South African
leader ThaboMbeki and Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo -- of the need
for toughaction.

As he left Fiji's capital, Suva at the end of the
annual three-day PacificIslands Forum, he also gave Pacific leaders a clear
message to get theirhouses in order or risk losing millions of dollars in
Australian aid.

He said European countries linked aid to Africa to better
administration andit was reasonable for Australia to do the same in the
Pacific.

"As a major aid donor in the region, we want to see
improvements. It is notan unreasonable requirement," he said. "We have a
perfect right to say to acountry, 'Well, we will provide aid, but in return
we would like certainstandards of governance to be met'."

"Small, fragile countries lacking any kind of security services
have thepotential to be easy targets," he said.

After two days of
intense lobbying to sell Australia's record on cuttinggreenhouse gas
emissions, Mr Howard announced the Government would provide$2.2 million to
help island nations predict climate change.

The money will fund an
upgrade of weather services across the Pacific.

Some low-lying countries,
including Tuvalu, which could disappear altogetherif sea levels rise, had
tried to take a hard line against Australia for notsigning the Kyoto
protocols on greenhouse gas emissions.

But as Mr Howard left the summit,
he said the other 15 members of the forumnow better understood Australia's
strong commitment to meeting the emissiontargets under Kyoto.

Dear Family and Friends,As I sit here and write this letter on a warm and
windy Saturday morning allhell is breaking loose in Zimbabwe. At this moment
29 farmers have beenarrested but the number is changing every hour. In a
sickening butpredictably cowardly fashion, farmers are being arrested over
the weekendwhen the courts are closed and magistrates are not available for
bailhearings. One of the men arrested has had both his brother and his
mothermurdered by militant government supporters in the last two years. On
anumber of farms around Marondera farmers are simply being evicted
bymilitant mobs, regardless of the fact that their properties have not
beenlisted for government acquisition at all, or if they have, the deadlines
forvacating their homes have not arrived. Some are being given a day to get
outof their homes, others as little as five hours. In other cases farmers
aresimply sitting in their homes and just waiting to be arrested. I feel
sosickeningly helpless as I talk and write to friends, advising them to
makesure they have got a warm jacket, toothpaste and toilet paper with them
incase they are suddenly arrested. There are increasing reports of the
farmworkers, evicted along with their employers, simply camping on the sides
ofroads with nowhere to go. The disgusting irony of this eviction and
arrestof our farmers and their workers is the growing evidence of entire
villagesliterally starving now. I have had reports this week from villagers
aroundNyanga whose children are showing the classic signs of malnutrition -
theirbellies distended and their hair taking on an orange hue.Listening
to a BBC reporter speaking to a Zimbabwean farmer this week I wasshocked at
the crass insensitivity and downright hostility of thequestioning. After
hearing that the farmer is being ordered off his land,out of his house and
having his business and life's work seized, thereporter said to him: "So,
why don't you go then?" The farmer replied thathe was born here, that he is
a Zimbabwean and that he is growing food for acountry where 6.8 million
people are starving. The reporter did not let itgo, "But why don't you just
go? Mozambique, Botswana, they'll have you, whydon't you just leave?" I've
been asked this same question hundreds of timesin the last three years and
my answer is the same as the farmer speaking tothe BBC: I was born and
educated here, so was my son, this is our home, ourcountry, we are
Zimbabweans, we may have white skins but we are Africans andwe belong here.
We love our country, we believe in democracy and humanrights and we are
patriotic enough to demand our right to be able to liveand work in the
country of our birth. Both the black and white people inZimbabwe are so
patriotic that they have endured torture, rape, murder andarrest in their
fight for democracy. I often wonder if some crazed bunch ofskin heads
suddenly bombarded their way into power in England or Americawhat the
citizens of those countries would do - I cannot believe that theythey would
just pack their bags and go to another country where theyperceive the grass
to be greener. I cannot believe that they would just leta bunch of crazed
militants take over their homes and possessions. Neithercan I understand why
our neighbours in African countries think that thehorrors of Zimbabwe cannot
happen in their countries. It has taken less than3 years for Zimbabwe to go
from being a food exporter to a beggar. This canhappen in any country where
politicians refuse to leave power; it can happenin any country where
ordinary men and women turn a blind eye to corruptionand nepotism, where
they do not get involved in their governance and do notspeak out at
injustices. As I have for the last 12 months, I wear a smallyellow ribbon
pinned to my shirt in support of people suffering in Zimbabwe.This week my
ribbon is for farmers sitting in stinking cells, for theirworkers camped out
on the roadsides and for starving villagers unable to getfood aid because
they support the opposition MDC. God help us. Until nextweek, with love,
cathy. http://africantears.netfirms.com

Zimbabwean police have detained 53 white farmers, while
holding at least 18others out of custody, as the government extends its
crackdown on whites whorefuse to vacate their farms, a farming lobby said on
Saturday.

Among them is Tony Smith, who was attacked early on Saturday by
police andpro-government militants, Justice for Agriculture (JAG)
representative JenniWilliams said.

"Very early this morning, police
in the company of war veterans approached afarm in Mhangura, 100 kilometres
northwest of Harare, and assaulted anemployee there, compelling him to take
to the home of Tony Smith, who nolonger lives on his farm," Williams
said.

"They then arrived at the Chisipite residence of Mr. Smith (in
Harare), andproceeded to handcuff him. Reports indicate that he was severely
assaultedand has possibly sustained a broken leg and head injuries," she
said.

Smith was being held at a police station outside Harare, and JAG
was tryingto send him legal and medical aid, Williams said.

Police
were not immediately reachable for comment, but the state-run
Heraldnewspaper reported on Saturday that 19 farmers had been
arrested.

The government on Thursday accused white farmers of
stage-managing theirevictions as part of a wider
anti-Zimbabwecampaign.

Supporters of President Robert Mugabe's ruling
Zimbabwe African NationalUnion - Patriotic front (Zanu-PF) party and war
veterans began occupyingwhite farms in 2000, sparking an international
outcry and prompting EUtravel restrictions on senior Zanu-PF officials as
part of targetedsanctions.

The land reforms come as more than
six-million Zimbabweans are facingincreasing food shortages, caused by
drought and the dramatic decrease incommercially grown food on commercial
farms, which are mainly white-owned. -Sapa-AFP

HARARE, ZIMBABWE -- A white farmer who obeyed the government's order to
abandon his land was tracked down by police and ruling party militants Saturday,
handcuffed and beaten, a farmers' group said.

Andrew Smith suffered head injuries and a broken leg in the attack at his
home in Harare, said Jenni Williams, a spokeswoman for the group Justice for
Agriculture. After the attack, Smith was taken into police custody and detained
near what was his farm, 20 miles northwest of Harare.

"We are attempting to secure his release from custody and into hospital,"
Williams said.

It was not known why Smith, who left his farm about a month ago, was
targeted. Police and militants who went to the farm looking for Smith instead
found the caretaker and beat him up.

The attackers then drove to Harare, allegedly beat up Smith and took him back
to a holding facility near his farm.

Police spokesman Andrew Phiri said he had received no information about the
attack.

Ruling party militants have attacked at least 12 farmers since the deadline
for them to vacate their land expired Aug. 8. The government ordered about 2,900
whites to leave their farms, saying the land was to be redistributed to blacks,
but several hundred farmers resisted the evictions.

Seventy-seven white farmers have been arrested over the past few days for
flouting the eviction order, police said Saturday. At least six were freed on
bail Friday, Phiri said.

Farmers convicted of flouting the eviction orders face up to two years in
prison and a fine.

The government has targeted 95 percent of properties owned by 4,000 white
farmers for confiscation under its land reform program, saying the measure is
necessary to correct the legacy of inequitable land ownership left by the
colonial era.

However, critics say the program is a bid by the increasingly unpopular
government to cling to power amid more than two years of economic chaos and
political violence.

Half of Zimbabwe's 12.5 million people face severe food shortages, a problem
that aid agencies blame on drought and the farm seizures.

BUSINESS ground to a halt in Chipinge yesterday when
hundreds of resettled farmers and war veterans demonstrated at the magistrate's
court against the granting of free bail to three suspects who allegedly burnt
District Development Fund tractors last month.

The resettled farmers demanded the immediate removal of
Chipinge provincial magistrate, Mr Chikwana, who they said was biased against
Zanu-PF members.

They also accused the magistrate of delaying the prosecution
of offenders who supported the MDC while "fast tracking" cases involving ruling
party supporters or war veterans.

They noted their concerns in a petition to Zanu-PF
provincial chairman Cde Mike Madiro, provincial governor, Cde Oppah Muchinguri,
the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association, the police and the
Central Intelligence Organisation.

Zanu-PF district co-ordination committee chairman Cde
Timothy Mapungwana said settlers in the district had been incensed by the
release on free bail of the three youths who allegedly burnt the DDF
tractors.

Following the protests, the three suspects were eventually
brought back into remand.

However, the farmers said the burning of the tractors would
derail land preparations for the coming agricultural season.

The angry farmers are also reported to have forced Mr Dirk
du Plooy, the owner of a service station that is alleged to have been used as a
communication centre for the MDC, to close down his business and leave the town
within 48 hours. They called for the immediate designation of Mr du Plooy's
farm.

The angry mob warned Mr du Plooy of unspecified action if he
did not comply with the order.

Meanwhile, police in Chipinge were making frantic efforts to
bring before the courts on Monday next week, farmers who defied Government
orders to vacate their farms after the expiry of the 90-day grace period granted
under section 8 of the Land Acquisition Amendment Act.

Some of the farmers were said to have gone to stay with
their colleagues whose farms had not been designated, leaving their movable
property on the farms.

A total of 13 farmers in Chipinge have been served with the
section 8 notices compelling them to leave the farms.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's government on
Friday began acting against defiant white farmers refusing to leave their farms.
Fifty farmers were charged, another 11 were arrested and a further five appeared
in court, in Matabeleland province for defying the August 10 deadline which the
government gave them to vacate their farms to make way for black
settlers.

And farm leaders say police bosses have instructed all police
stations to arrest the remainder of some 1 800 farmers who have been defying the
deadline.

The Commercial Farmers' Union regional chairman for
Matabeleland, Mac Crawford, said he and 50 other farmers had been charged with
violating Mugabe's order and would appear in court soon. Eleven other farmers
were arrested on Friday and five more were charged in the Gwanda
court.

Justice for Agriculture (Jag), a new lobby group of white farmers
advocating court challenges to Mugabe's land seizures, said top police officers
had instructed all police stations to arrest farmers remaining on their
farms.

"The situation is getting more tense. Signals have been sent for
police to arrest and charge farmers in court. Those being arrested are loyal
Zimbabweans and single-farm owners," said Jag spokesperson Jenni
Williams.

Her reference to single-farm owners was a refutation of
Mugabe's statement on Monday that he was only confiscating land from farmers who
owned more than one farm. Among the 11 farmers arrested on Friday were Max
Rosenfels, 77, and ailing Robin Greaves, 74. - Independent Foreign Service

SUVA,
Aug. 17 - The eleven Pacific members of the Commonwealth warned onSaturday
of stronger action against Zimbabwe but stopped short ofthreatening to expel
the deeply troubled southern African nation. Commonealth countries at
the annual Pacific Islands Forum discussedthe crisis in Zimbabwe, where
President Robert Mugabe's government hasordered thousands of white
commercial farmers to vacate their land so it canbe given to landless
blacks. The Pacific Commonwealth leaders expressed ''deep concern''
overZimbabwe and noted with regret that Mugabe has so far spurned
internationalattempts to promote reconciliation and the rule of
law. ''Pacific Commonwealth leaders...recommended further action by
theCommonwealth should there be no rapid change of approach by the
Zimbabwegovernment,'' the leaders said in statement read by Fiji Prime
MinisterLaisenia Qarase. The leaders called for an immediate end
to political violence inZimbabwe and for an end to the forced eviction of
farmers. At a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Australia in
March,members decided only to suspend Zimbabwe from councils of the
Commonwealth,which meant Zimbabwe was able to compete at the Commonwealth
Games inBritain last month. A tri-nation panel of the leaders of
Australia, South Africa andNigeria was set up to decide on what other action
to take against Zimbabwe. The Pacific leaders backed ongoing efforts
of that ''troika'' toencourage dialogue with Zimbabwe, efforts which have so
far been ignored. Australian Prime Minister John Howard would not be
drawn on whataction might be taken and refused to speculate whether the
troika mightrecommend Zimbabwe be suspended completely or
expelled. ''I'm not offering a view on that, self-evidently Zimbabwe
has notresponded,'' Howard told a news conference. The land crisis
coincides with a drought causing food shortages inmuch of southern Africa.
An estimated six million Zimbabweans, nearly halfthe population, are short
of food because of disruption on the farms anddrought. ''The
drought is more serious in Zimbabwe because there is adysfunctional
government,'' said Clark, who this week described theevictions as
''lunacy.'' The Pacific leaders said it was important the Commonwealth
was seento be acting the same way over Zimbabwe as Fiji, which it suspended
andimposed limited trade sanctions on after a coup in May 2000.
Fiji has since been readmitted after returning to democracy withgeneral
elections last year. Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon is
hosting a Pacificdemocracy roundtable in Fiji from Monday.

THE foreign aid agencies have yet to
reach Chadereka, a sleepy village deep in the Zambezi valley, so the pangs of
hunger are starting to bite hard. As throughout Zimbabwe, maize meal is the
staple food, but this year neither God nor President Robert Mugabe have
provided.

"We should be eating twice, maybe three times a day," said
Dzidzai Musinyare, a 22-year-old mother of four . "Now it is barely once."

Last week Musinyare went to the government grain store, 60 kilometres
away, in search of food. She had no choice: private trading of maize is
forbidden in Zimbabwe. But when she reached Muzarabani, there was nothing. So
she waited - one day, then two, then three.

"Five days, for just one bag
of maize," she said with disgust. The return bus fare cost more than the bag of
precious grain.

Across the country, the same story is repeated - a
chronic shortage of maize, exacerbated by stubbornly destructive government
policies, is pushing a once-plentiful country towards famine. As Mugabe runs out
of money and ideas, his people are slowly starting to starve.

According
to aid agencies, more than half of Zimbabwe’s 12.5 million people are going to
need urgent food assistance in the coming months. The UN is appealing for $285m
to stave off what it calls the "largest food crisis in 50 years".

Mugabe
is not entirely to blame. A sharp drought at the beginning of this year
decimated the maize crop, particularly on the thin soil of communal areas, where
most black farmers live. And as food stocks run low, Zimbabweans’ ability to
cope has been severely hampered by the scourge of HIV/Aids - an estimated one in
three adults is infected with HIV and there are more than 600,000 orphans.

Nevertheless, Mugabe, who ordered a police sweep of defiant white
farmers on Friday, arresting more than 80 for their refusal to move off their
land, bears enormous responsibility for his people’s suffering. Aid workers say
this should be a manageable crisis, but it risks becoming a full-blown disaster.

The seizure of white-owned commercial farms has thrown the agriculture
sector into disarray at the moment when it is most needed. Commercial farmers
accounted for almost half of national maize requirements. Combined with the
effects of drought, maize production has collapsed by 70%.

Some black
settlers on white farms have grown maize this year but their crops have been
meagre. Many are poor and inexperienced commercial farmers. Without government
help with fertiliser, seeds and know-how, their crops often fail .

Perhaps the most important impact of the land grab has been on Mugabe’s
ability to import replacement maize. The lucrative tobacco crop, a key foreign
currency earner, has been badly hit. Now as the government struggles to import
food from abroad, it is discovering that there is precious little hard cash with
which to buy it.

Equally troubling is that the current uncertainty means
there is no guarantee that planting will go ahead as normal at the end of the
dry season, hitting next year’s crop.

Aid agencies are scrambling to
help. A famine is not inevitable, they say, but the early signs are already
showing.

In thousands of villages like Chadereka, school absentee rates
have soared as parents send their children to search for wild berries and
fruits.

Theft is on the rise in previously placid rural areas.
Prostitution is also growing: young women are flocking to the southern border
town of Beitbridge to make money for food from passing truckers.

Some
international aid is on the way. The WFP says it has enough food to last until
Christmas, maybe longer. The British government, the butt of Mugabe’s frequent
rants, is spending £32m this year. However, it won’t be enough.

The bulk
of Zimbabwe’s food will have to come through the government or private imports.
Neither source looks reliable.

Peasants like Dzidzai Musinyare have to
buy their food from the Grain Marketing Board, a government agency with depots
around the country that has a monopoly on grain sales. But because Mugabe has no
foreign currency, its shelves are usually empty.

The other option is to
liberalise the grain market and allow traders to bring in food from abroad. But
the currently fixed prices would undoubtedly rise sharply, perhaps tenfold.
Foreign donors are desperately trying to persuade Mugabe that this is the only
way forward. So far, he has refused to listen.

Instead, government
employees have been accused of playing dirty politics with food aid. The deputy
minister of foreign affairs Abednico Ncube was reported as telling villagers
that food "will be available only to those who dump the opposition and work with
Zanu-PF".

One diplomat said: "Things are getting worse and worse, yet it
appears he [Mugabe] is more interested in power politics than helping his own
people."

Declan Walsh reports from
the Zambezi Valley, where land redistribution hasfatally deepened a
drought-led food crisis

Sunday August 18, 2002The Observer

A
straggly queue trailed around the fence of the government grain store
inMuzarabani, a village on the floor of the Zambezi Valley in
northernZimbabwe. An old man shook his head in disgust. The shelves were
empty -again.'This is crazy. We've been waiting here for five days,'
said 68-year-oldSinet Muzanenhamo, slumped under the shade of a tree. A
truck had come tothe store, known as Grain Marketing Board (GMB), three days
earlier, heexplained. But it carried just 100 bags of maize for more than
1,000 waitingpeople. He got nothing.

'By now, we are eating only once
a day,' he said, fingering a piece of worncardboard that showed that he was
10th in line. 'We fear that soon it willbe nothing at all.'

All
across Zimbabwe, the story is the same - a chronic shortage of
maize,exacerbated by stubbornly destructive government policies, is pushing
a onceplentiful country to the verge of famine.

The full folly of
President Robert Mugabe's land redistribution programme isbeing laid bare.
Yesterday farm groups said that 80 white farmers had beenarrested and some
charged for defying government orders to vacate landtargeted for
redistribution to landless blacks. Of the remaining 4,500 whitefarmers,
2,900 have been told to quit their land without compensation.Nearly
two-thirds are refusing to go.

According to the United Nations, more than
half of Zimbabwe's 12.5 millionpeople are going to need urgent food
assistance in the coming months.

Famine is not inevitable - yet. Aid food
is starting to arrive, andmalnutrition rates remain relatively low - around
5 per cent in some areas.But it is a fragile stability, aid workers
warn.

'People's capacity to cope is almost exhausted,' said Chris McIvor
of Savethe Children-UK. 'Once that goes, there can be a very rapid decline.
Wecould be looking at a catastrophic situation by December.'

Across
the country, the early signs of starvation are starting to show.
Inclassrooms, children are fainting or dropping out of school entirely
tosearch for wild food. Some have died after eating poisonous roots. To
thesouth, young women are flocking to the border town of Beit Bridge,
toprostitute themselves to the passing truckers. There is competition
fromwild animals. Near Chadereka, two men lie in hospital, one of them close
todeath. He was attacked by an elephant while picking berries off wild
trees;a buffalo gored his neighbour.

Foreign aid has not yet reached
Chadereka, a sleepy village further insidethe Zambezi Valley, near the
border with Mozambique. With maize hardlyavailable, villagers have turned to
masawu - berries normally used formaking moonshine - to fill their
stomachs.

'But this type of food, it doesn't stay,' complained Dzidzai
Musinyari, a22-year-old woman who was seven months pregnant. 'You eat it, go
to thetoilet and then it is all gone.' Her five-year-old son was starting
tosuffer from diarrhoea.

The valley people used to farm cotton, then
use their earnings to buy maizegrown in the fertile highlands. Not any
more.

The crisis cannot be blamed entirely on Mugabe. It was sparked by a
sharpdrought at the beginning of this year, wrecking the maize
harvest.

The scourge of HIV/Aids made things worse: one in three
Zimbabwean adults isinfected with HIV, and there are more than 600,000 Aids
orphans.Grandparents find themselves struggling to feed the children of
their deadsons and daughters.

But if bad weather sparked the crisis,
Mugabe's ruinous policies have madeit infinitely worse. He has closed down
food-producing white farms. He hasbeggared the economy, cutting off access
to foreign currency needed toimport food. He has maintained a steely grip on
the monopoly of maizeimports, though private trade is vital to fend off
disaster.

Zimbabwe used to be self-sufficient in maize, with commercial
farms meetingalmost half of the requirements. But this year, drought and
farmerintimidation have caused production to plummet by 70 per
cent.

More significantly, the tobacco industry, which brought in much of
thecountry's foreign currency, has also collapsed. As the government
strugglesto import food from abroad, it is discovering that there is
precious littlehard cash with which to buy it.

Under current plans, a
famine can be averted if the government, aid agenciesand private traders
each import one third of the maize deficit. The aidagencies should keep
their part of the bargain, at least until Christmas.

But the government
is broke, so scepticism abounds that Mugabe will be ableto import 500,000
tonnes of maize in the coming months, as promised. He isrefus ing to allow
private traders to bring in food from abroad, becauseprices would inevitably
rise, perhaps as much as tenfold.

Foreign donors are desperately trying
to persuade Mugabe that this is theonly way forward. Those with money,
mostly in urban areas, could becomeself-sufficient, leaving the aid agencies
and government to concentrate onthe most vulnerable people in rural areas.
But this would also highlight toMugabe's supporters how poor his policies
have been, so he has refused tolisten.

Instead, his cronies have been
accused of playing dirty politics with foodaid. In June, war veterans shut
down a Catholic Church project to feed40,000 people in the western Binga
province. They claimed that the project,which is funded by the British
agency Cafod, was being run by supporters ofthe opposition Movement for
Democratic Change.

More recently, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Abednico Ncube, wasquoted in a local newspaper as telling villagers that
food 'will beavailable only to those who dump the opposition and work with
Zanu-PF'.

Some 13m people in southern Africa, across Malawi, Zimbabwe,
Zambia, Malawi,Swaziland and Lesotho, are threatened with famine in the
coming months.Zimbabwe should be anchoring the region; instead it is pulling
it down.

While the suffering is most extreme in Malawi, the sheer scale
of numbersmakes Zimbabwe the most vulnerable country. But Mugabe has acted
with anarrogant cool towards international aid. He recently warned
parliament ofthe need to 'remain wary of countries and organisations which
seek to takeadvantage of our hour of need'. There were 'sinister interests',
he claimed,that wanted to use the 'cover of humanitarian
involvement'.

The irony is that foreign money is the only thing keeping
his country fromslipping into starvation. Britain, which is frequently
derided as the greatcolonial evil, is putting £32m into Zimbabwe this year.
The European Unionhas pledged ?35m (£22m).

One frustrated diplomat
said: 'Things are getting worse and worse, yet itappears he is more
interested in power politics than helping his ownpeople.'

Speaking at
Heroes' Acre, the national shrine for black liberation fighters,Mugabe vowed
last week to ensure that 'no Zimbabwean starves to death'.

It is
increasingly clear that the ageing autocrat is running out of bothmoney and
ideas. But if he does not find a way of getting food intoZimbabwe, fast, a
preventable disaster may soon become an inevitable famine.

Zimbabwean police and war
veterans on Saturday stepped up thelong-threatened nationwide crackdown on
farmers, increasing the number inprison to 80, including two women and one
black farm manager.

Farmers were divided over whether there was a clear
pattern in the swoop,which included those who have eviction notices and
those who don't, andfarmers who have only one farm, which President Robert
Mugabe said earlierthis week was allowed.

In raids that began before
dawn, farmers including leaders of Justice forAgriculture (Jag) solidarity
group and supporters of the opposition Movementfor Democratic Change (MDC)
were among the targets.

'It's a political cleansing'The
chairman of Jag, David Connolly, was visited and questioned at 5am
onSaturday even though he does not have an eviction notice. He was
notarrested.

Jag alleged that Tony Smith, who left his farm a month
ago, was severelybeaten by police and war veterans at his Harare home. Jag
alleges he washandcuffed and severely beaten, and that he has a broken leg
and headinjuries.

Among the 80 in custody from earlier arrests is
David Olds, whose brotherMartin and mother Gloria were murdered in separate
incidents.

No arrests have been made in those cases.

This week,
some of the new black farmers attended the annual congress of theZimbabwe
Farmers' Union, which represents 100 000 peasant and small
scalefarmers.

A Jag spokesperson said farmers from all affiliations
were being targeted.

But the opposition justice spokesperson, MDC MP
David Coltart, said Mugabewas seeking to crush anyone associated with the
MDC or Jag, which has nopolitical affiliation but believes in using the
legal system and theconstitution to fight evictions.

"There are now
good whites and bad whites," Coltart said. "Farm owners whosupport Zanu-PF
have been left alone, but small farmers, who run afoundation to educate farm
workers about Aids, get targeted. It's apolitical cleansing."

Up to 100 white
farmers, including an elderly woman, were arrested yesterdayin Zimbabwe for
defying a government eviction order as President RobertMugabe's
controversial land reform programme threatened to reach a
violentclimax.

Hundreds of police and war veterans stormed
white-owned farms around thecountry and arrested those accused of defying
government orders to quittheir land.

"We had the names of 84 farmers
who had been arrested by midday with reportsof further arrests coming in all
the time," said Jenni Williams, spokesmanfor the farmers' pressure group,
Justice for Agriculture (JAG) . "At thisrate we will have easily reached 100
by this evening."

The crackdown is the culmination of a
two-and-a-half-year campaign whichbegan in February 2000 with the forced
occupation of white-owned farms byso-called "war veterans" sparking an
international outcry.

The arrests came eight days after the expiry of a
deadline for 2,900 whitefarmers to quit their land. They were also ordered
to remove all theirbelongings and to sack their labour force.

About
half of those who received eviction orders ignored them in the hopethat
Mugabe would not make good his threats.

Mugabe vowed last week that he
had no intention of abandoning his policy ofevicting white farmers despite
predictions that half the country'spopulation of 12 million was on the verge
of starvation.

"There are those who believe that the land reform
programme can be reversed. . . this is not reversible," Mugabe told an
annual gathering of themostly-black Zimbabwe Farmers Union. "This is not
[Tony] Blair's land, thisis Mugabe's land," he said.

Last night
relatives were still trying to track down an elderly woman whowas carried
off in a police van. Flo McKay had been looking after her son'sfarm in
Wedza, 100 miles south-east of Harare, while he was on holiday.

"When
police discovered he was away, they took the old lady instead," aneighbour
said.

One farmer, who had moved off his land, was beaten unconscious and
sustaineda broken leg after pro-Mugabe activists tortured a member of his
staff intorevealing his employer's new address.

Seven farmers
appeared in court on Friday. A further 77 have been arrestedfor failing to
comply with eviction orders, Ms Williams said.

Of those arrested, 20 were
later released and ordered to appear in court inthe next few days, while 57
remained in custody.

Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said he could not
comment on the latestarrests or say how many farmers were behind bars
pending charges on newlegislation which carries a maximum penalty of two
years in jail and a fine.

But those already in police custody - including
75-year-old Robin Grieves,who is blind - are expected to spend the weekend
in jail before beingbrought before the courts.

Sue Fould, the
British-born wife of rose farmer Ian Fould, who is beingdetained by police,
said: "They are not only arresting those who stayed ontheir farms but also
those who left property on their farms."

Ms Williams yesterday said she
was "not surprised" at the mass arrests. "Oureyes have been wide open for a
long time now and we always believed thatMugabe was not prepared to
negotiate over this or implement his land reformplans legally or without
violence."

The Foreign Office confirmed yesterday that four Britons had
been refusedentry into Zimbabwe in the past two weeks in apparent
retaliation forEuropean Union sanctions preventing the travel of Zimbabwean
cabinetministers and Mugabe's supporters in Europe.

HARARE, Zimbabwe (Reuters) -- Zimbabwean police
have arrested 141 whitefarmers over the last three days for defying
government orders to leavetheir land for redistribution to landless blacks,
farming groups said onSunday.

President Robert Mugabe's government
has ordered 2,900 farmers of thecountry's remaining 4,500 white commercial
farmers to quit their landwithout compensation, but nearly two thirds have
defied an August 8deadline.

The disruption to agriculture in
Zimbabwe, once the bread-basket of southernAfrica, comes as millions in the
region face food shortages.

Farmers' lobby group Justice for Agriculture
(JAG) said on Sunday latestfigures showed 141 farmers had been arrested
since Thursday for defyingeviction orders.

"Thirty-five have been in
court and are out on bail. Ninety-six are stilltechnically under arrest and
due to appear in court," Jag said, adding 10more farmers had been released
after signing statements saying they had beencautioned.

"In all cases farmers have been informed that they
are to remove allpersonal property from their farms - while some have been
given time to doso but no ongoing attention to crops and livestock is to be
permitted," CFUsaid.

"More than $3.72 billion Zimbabwe dollars ($67.6
million) worth of ongoingcrop and livestock production is at risk," the
union added.

Mugabe, who has been in power since the country gained
independence fromBritain in 1980, says his land drive is aimed at correcting
colonialinjustice which left 70 percent of the best farmland in the hands of
whitefarmers.

JAG says most of the targeted farmers have only one
farm each and nowhereelse to stay, nor any other source of income outside
agriculture.

Aid agencies say nearly six million Zimbabweans -- half the
nationalpopulation -- need food aid this year, part of a wider food
crisisthreatening nearly 13 million people in six southern African
countries.

Zimbabwe now needs food aid after drought and the farm
invasions slashedoutput of the staple maize crop.

Mugabe's government
blames the shortage of maize solely on the drought thathas hit small-scale
black farmers who produce 70 percent of national output.

Zimbabwe has
been in crisis since pro-government militants led by veteransof the 1970s
liberation war began invading white-owned farms in early 2000in support of
the government seizures.

Call for
international intervention to help Zimbabwe farmersThe son of a Zimbabwean
farmer who has been arrested for refusing to leavehis farm says
international intervention is needed to prevent the
situationworsening.

More than 130 farmers have been detained over the
past few days for refusingto comply with a Government deadline for white
farmers to give up the land.

Robert Carey left Zimbabwe seven months ago
to avoid the hostilities and nowlives in north Queensland but his father
chose to stay and was one of thosearrested on the weekend.

HARARE, ZIMBABWE - Even with foreign aid pouring into the
country, observerssay that Zimbabwe will not have enough food for its people
over the comingyear. In this looming crisis, the government sees an
opportunity - to gainpolitical leverage by withholding food from political
opponents, says SamMlilo, an organizer for the opposition party here.Mr.
Mlilo says that members of his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)party
come to him looking for food, as drought and President Robert
Mugabe'scontroversial land redistribution program have edged Zimbabwe closer
tofamine. But Mlilo has to turn his fellow supporters away.

"I have
no resources, no food for you," he tells them, "and the next day, Ihear that
they have surrendered their party cards because they have beenstarving."
Mlilo, a former university professor who lives in Mberengwa East,an area
wracked by violence during the country's March presidentialelections, adds:
"It's really working. [The government's] plan is going towork."

That
plan, according to opposition leaders such as Mlilo and aid groups, isto
starve the opposition into submission, forcing their allegiance to
Mr.Mugabe's regime.

Earlier in the year, some 50 MDC supporters were
beaten and shot, allegedlyby Mugabe supporters in the run up to the March
elections. But as ruralvillagers are reduced scavenging for roots and
berries, or selling theirremaining assets to buy high-priced food on the
black market, the MDC andlocal nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) say food
is the government'slatest weapon.

The government denies this charge.
Speaking to the nation last week duringZimbabwe's independence day
celebrations, Mugabe promised that thegovernment would feed everyone, even
the "stooges and puppets," one of hisfavorite term for opposition supporters
he claims are working for Britain,the country's former colonial
master.

In two short years, Zimbabwe has gone from a food supplier to
becoming oneof the largest humanitarian emergencies on the continent.
Mugabe's plan togive white-owned farms to landless blacks has crippled the
country'scommercial-farming sector. Yesterday, more than 133 white farmers
werearrested for defying orders to vacate their land.

Over the next
nine months, the country faces a 1.5-million-tonfood-production shortfall
and the specter of six million starving if itdoesn't receive sufficient aid,
according to the United Nations' World FoodProgram (WFP). Even with aid,
Zimbabwe is likely to face a half-million tonshortfall. But despite pleas
from the UN to allow the private importation offood to help fill the
projected gap, the government has maintained a steelygrip on the market.
Late last year, private wheat and corn imports werebanned, and the
government-run grain marketing board, which is managed bytop military and
intelligence officials, was given control.

Known MDC supporters are being
turned away from grain depots, while partybig men are buying up grain and
selling it on the black market at a profit,say some observers. NGOs also
report that MDC supporters are beingdiscriminated against in government-run
food-for-work programs.

The Food Security Network, a coalition of 54
local NGOs that has beenmonitoring the situation in Zimbabwe, says
politicization of food aid hasbeen reported in at least 33 of the country's
54 districts. They say many ofthe depots are being run by youth militia from
Mugabe's ZANU-PF party or byintelligence officers, and that more food is
being sent to ZANU strongholdsthan to MDC areas.

"We went to one
depot that was being run by youth militia," says thedirector of one
prominent NGO, who asked not to be named out of fear ofretaliation from the
government. "That in itself is outrageous. These arethe same people who were
beating and torturing people in the first fourmonths of the year," referring
to alleged violence around the Marchelection, which most observers say was
rigged in favor of Mugabe. Thegovernment has threatened to ban NGOs critical
of the state and to seize thepassports of their workers.

The WFP says
that food is being distributed to all, not just to those in aparticular
party. But local NGOs and the MDC say that monitoring has beenpoor. They
accuse aid agencies of looking the other way to avoidconfrontation with the
government, allowing it to influence who receivesdonated food.

"The
lists of beneficiaries are all being drawn up by rural committees,which are
relying on chiefs and headmen who are all in the pay of thegovernment," says
Eddie Cross, spokesman for the MDC on economic affairs."On principle [the
WFP and aid groups] will not act in a political manner,but they're allowing
themselves to be manipulated."

The WFP and donors deny such allegations
and say that they have thoroughlyinvestigated all charges of political bias
in the food-distribution processand found them untrue. The biggest problem,
they say, is just that there'snot enough food aid for everyone.

Since
the ranks of the needy are so vast, it is nearly impossible to provewhether
someone was left off a list because of political affiliation. Still,several
cases of direct interference by ruling-party militants have
beenrecorded.

In the town of Binga, near Lake Kariba, war veterans
stopped fooddistribution by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace
for almost twomonths, saying that the commission was a political
organization that wasusing the food to foment antigovernment sentiment. In
another district, alocal NGO says its workers were beaten by war veterans
who claimed that bagsof cornmeal were being distributed with pro-opposition
material inside.

The biggest challenge for the donors may be the next
phase of the crisis -the recovery phase. Feeding the hungry is usually
followed by long-termefforts to improve food security, but according to the
WFP, donors willlikely be hesitant to subsidize new farmers placed on land
taken from whitecommercial farmers.
Christian Science Monitor

Zero Reform in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe once
fed much of southern Africa. Now it can't feed its own people.A long drought
is partly to blame, but most of the responsibility rests withPresident
Robert Mugabe.Mr. Mugabe, a hero of his country's struggle to end white
minority rule, hasdecided for the past two years to refight that battle in
Zimbabwe's fertile,and once very productive, countryside.

His
campaign to forcibly remove white farmers and redistribute their land
toblacks has populist appeal. British settlers at the end of the 19th
centuryseized the best land, and whites still farm half that land. It's
aninjustice overdue for adjustment.

But Mugabe's way of addressing it
is bringing chaos, not justice. Police arenow starting to round up hundreds
of farmers who ignored the government'sAug. 8 deadline to leave.

The
time is ripe for international and regional pressures to be concentratedon
Mugabe, to keep him from deepening the crisis. Zimbabwe's
neighbors,particularly South Africa, need to break out of their silent
tolerance ofMugabe's authoritarian ways and push for a negotiated settlement
of the landissue. Plans to compensate farmers must be worked out.

A
quieting of the situation might partially revive Zimbabwe's
agriculturalsector - something that would benefit the country's people much
more thanMugabe's botched, politically motivated "land reform."

New Zealand is leading renewed calls for
the Commonwealth to take strongerand swifter action against Zimbabwe as it
deteriorates into further crisis.

Prime Minister Helen Clark initiated a
move at the Pacific Islands Forum for11 Commonwealth members - comprising 20
per cent of the Commonwealth memberstates - to call for a rapid
reassessment.

In the process, New Zealand and Fiji are on a fast-track to
friendship afterbuddying up at the Fiji forum on the matter.

Fiji
argued that double standards must not apply: the same rules shouldapply to
Zimbabwe as they did to Fiji when it faced Commonwealth actionafter the 2000
coup.

In reality, the move is intended to put pressure on Commonwealth
leaders,particularly South African President Thabo Mbeki and Nigerian
PresidentOlusegun Obasanjo, who must make recommendations on action such as
fullsuspension.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard is also part of
the troika. The forumstand is likely to strengthen his arm to convince the
African leaders tolook beyond suspension from the councils of the
Commonwealth.

The 11-country grouping issued a statement "recommending
further action bythe Commonwealth should there be no rapid change of
approach by the ZimbabweGovernment".

Helen Clark, the first New
Zealand Prime Minister to visit Fiji in 16 years,heaped praise on Fiji for
the way it had co-operated with the Commonwealthfollowing the coup to return
to constitutional government.

That is what set Zimbabwe apart from the
Fiji situation.

"Fiji co-operated with the Commonwealth fully in this
process. That hasn'tbeen the case with Zimbabwe.

"Fiji saw the
opportunity to be assisted by the Commonwealth to work back toa
constitutional process," she said.

Fiji Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase
had pointed out that if "Fiji is treatedin that way when it departs from the
rule of law and the constitution thenit is only fair that the rules be
applied evenly".

Two years ago Helen Clark refused to speak to Mr Qarase
at the Kiribatiforum when New Zealand had been vociferous in its
condemnation of the Fijisituation.

In a long-running land
resettlement policy, Mr Mugabe has ordered 2900 ofthe remaining 4500 white
farmers to leave their lands without compensationto landless black settlers
by August 8. An estimated 60 per cent arerefusing to go.

Six million
Zimbabweans are facing food shortages through a drought which isbeing
exacerbated by the eviction of the farmers.

Helen Clark said Mr Mugabe
was refusing to take calls from CommonwealthSecretary-General Don McKinnon
and was refusing to engage with the troika ofleaders dispatched to deal with
the situation.

The troika was appointed at the Commonwealth Heads of
Government meeting inCoolum near Brisbane in March to recommend action
following shonky electionsin Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe has been suspended
from the councils of the Commonwealth - as wasFiji - meaning it cannot
attend meetings. New Zealand now wants itsimmediate and full suspension from
the Commonwealth but African states mayargue for sanctions before that
step.

Helen Clark said the purpose of the statement was to support Mr
Howard "andto say that the situation in Zimbabwe is more intolerable than it
was inMarch and if there cannot be some engagement by Mr Mugabe ... then
theCommonwealth needs to address the issue again".

"The crisis is
coming to a head and this statement is helpful to Mr Howardand his
endeavours."

Mr Howard would not comment on how difficult it might be to
convince the twoAfrican leaders to suspend Zimbabwe but he made it plain he
also wantsstronger action.

"The rule book was thrown at Fiji. There
is no reason other countries shouldbe treated more sparingly in a situation
like this. It is not something wecan let drift indefinitely.

"The
situation in Zimbabwe is deteriorating by the day."

Of the 16-member
forum those that are not Commonwealth members are Palau,the Federated States
of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Niue and the CookIslands.

The
issue was dealt with on the fringes of the Pacific Islands Forum, not onthe
formal agenda.

In a speech a week ago, Mr Mugabe did not say what would
happen to thosedefying the eviction orders but a Government official said
they would not beleft alone.

Mr Mugabe, aged 78 and in power since
the former Rhodesia gainedindependence from Britain in 1980, says his land
redistribution drive isaimed at correcting colonial injustice which left 70
per cent of thecountry's best farmland in the hands of 4500 white commercial
farmers.

White farmers say they are not opposed to land reforms but the
Government'smethods.

Most have said they are willing to give up some
of it under an organisedprogramme, which has been offered by organisations
including theCommonwealth but been refused.

The notorious property magnate Nicholas van Hoogstraten,
convicted of manslaughter last month, has been involved in secret negotiations
to help the Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe buy Russian fighter jets. Leaked
documents reveal that in return for underwriting the £250m purchase of 14
MiG-29s, Hoogstraten would receive 1.2m acres (500,000 hectares) of prime
ranching property, much of which would be taken from white-owned farms. The
Zimbabwean intelligence documents, obtained by The Sunday Times, disclose that
Mugabe was told last month by the head of his air force that Hoogstraten was
interested in underwriting the loan for the MiGs. At the time Hoogstraten was on
trial for killing a former business partner. The document, dated July 5, states:
"Mr van Hoogstraten is not unreceptive to the idea of underwriting the loan in
exchange for an additional 500,000 hectares of land . . . his current
circumstances though are creating difficulties in finalising the
arrangements."

Mugabe, who is said to be worried by the superiority of the
South African air force and the increased military power of Botswana, has been
seeking to upgrade his air force for some years. According to the leaked
documents, a Zimbabwean delegation travelled to Russia earlier this year to
prepare a technical evaluation of the MiG-29 multi-role combat aircraft. The
underwriting deal, outlined in an addendum to the technical evaluation, would
make Hoogstraten the biggest landowner in Zimbabwe, where last week the
government charged five white farmers and arrested more than 80 others for
defying orders to vacate land. Hoogstraten already has a huge landholding of
more than 500,000 acres after taking over three estates formerly belonging to
Lonrho, the conglomerate built by "Tiny" Rowland, in the 1990s. This weekend
Hoogstraten’s lawyer Giovanni di Stefano, who has also represented the
assassinated Serbian warlord Arkan, denied "any specific allegations" of
arms-dealing However, he added: "His (Hoogstraten’s) investments and sympathies
with the Zimbabwe government are well known and while to date he has received no
request for assistance, if any such request were received he would adjudicate
each request on a purely business proposition."

Hoogstraten, 57, is in Belmarsh prison awaiting sentence for
manslaughter after being found guilty of hiring two hitmen who shot and stabbed
to death a former business partner, Mohammed Sabir Raja. The jury accepted that
he had hired the men to harm Raja but not that he had specifically ordered his
murder. The property baron’s ruthless and violent reputation stretched to
Zimbabwe where he routinely threatened his farm managers, whom he labelled
"white trash". He is said to have fathered five children by three different
women there. Hoogstraten’s backing for the Mugabe regime won him friends within
the ruling Zanu PF party and his lands have been relatively unaffected by the
past two years of lawlessness.